Ken Borland

The bizhub Highveld Lions and the Chevrolet Knights, the two winning teams from the first round, will meet from today in a Sunfoil Series match with the conditions in Potchefstroom promising to be much friendlier for the batsmen.

The formidable Lions pace quartet prospered at the Wanderers last weekend when they beat the Titans by 190 runs, but Temba Bavuma’s 84 was the highest score by their batsmen.

In Bloemfontein, the Knights beat the Warriors by 128 runs in an extraordinary game in which the home side recovered from 32 for eight to win.

Because of the batting-friendly conditions at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom, the Lions had lined up wrist-spinner Eddie Leie to come into the side but the plans were foiled when the 27-year-old sprained his groin in practice.

Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, fresh from his exploits with the national side, will therefore be playing and should be a major attraction along with SA U19 star Kagiso Rabada, recently named in the Proteas’ T20 squad.

Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana speculated in the build-up to the season that Rabada would be spared having to bowl on flat pitches, but the decision has now been made to put more responsibility on the young man’s shoulders.

“We’re still managing Kagiso, at the moment he’s not bowling much between games, but he’ll definitely play. Bowling on flat pitches is part of the process of growing up and when he gets to international cricket, all the pitches will look like Potch! It’s quite important that he learns the skills to bowl on those sort of surfaces,” Toyana told The Citizen yesterday.

Rilee Rossouw, who the Knights are heavily reliant on to lead the batting, is not available as he has just become a father for the first time, while Pite van Biljon is also on the injured list. They have rested their hopes on two of three all-rounders added to the squad – Obus Pienaar, Patrick Botha or wicketkeeper Tumelo Bodibe.

It will probably be a different story in Benoni, where both the Unlimited Titans and Chevrolet Warriors will be looking to bounce back from the blows they took in the opening round on a Willowmoore Park pitch that is often difficult for batting.

Henry Davids has been named in the Titans squad, but it remains to be seen whether he will play, having withdrawn from the team last weekend due to his lack of four-day form.

It will probably be a shootout between him and Qaasim Adams for the number four batting spot, while spinner Roelof van der Merwe and seamer Cobus Pienaar are probably competing for the all-rounder’s spot.

The Warriors will be without Wayne Parnell, the left-arm fast bowler having injured his shoulder in Bloemfontein.

Warriors captain Colin Ingram has spoken of the need for his team to adapt quickly to what the vagaries of the pitch may throw up, but the visitors will be confident they have the bowlers – both pacemen and spinners – to put the struggling Titans batting line-up under more pressure.

It will be back to the drawing board for the Unlimited Titans batsmen after bizhub Highveld Lions fast bowler Hardus Viljoen took seven for 32 to consign them to a 190-run defeat in their opening Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers on Sunday.

The Titans were dismissed for just 169 in their second innings, having staggered to 197 in their first knock, and their top-order batsmen will be under the spotlight as they showed no improvement from last season when none of them managed to score a four-day century.

“We have to get up now for our game against the Warriors in Benoni on Thursday and the batsmen have to fight tooth and nail. When you lose your first game, the only way is up,” disappointed Titans captain Farhaan Behardien said after the defeat.

Behardien could be counted as the only real batting success for the Titans as he scored 58 and 71 not out, but he lacked support, with wicketkeeper/batsman Mangaliso Mosehle the next heaviest scorer for the visitors with innings of 35 and 42.

Having surrendered a first-innings lead of 204, the Titans were set 360 for victory but batting out three-and-a-half sessions was a far more accurate description of the challenge before them.

And when Chris Morris reduced them to 50 for four overnight, the only sensible prediction for the fourth day was a comfortable Lions victory.

And Viljoen ensured that was the case soon after lunch as his exceptional performance garnered him his best ever Sunfoil Series figures, beating the six for 24 he claimed in the match between the same sides in Benoni two seasons ago.

“In the past I’ve been a bit expensive with my bowling but now I want to concede less than three runs an over. All the top international bowlers do that and build pressure. I want to keep my economy rate down and hit good areas.

“Last year I was trying to swing the ball, so I wasn’t hitting the deck. I’m not a swing bowler, that took away my aggression,” Viljoen said after his fiery performance.

There was a brief intermission to the Viljoen-inspired carnage when Behardien and Mosehle added 81 for the seventh wicket in 20 overs, but Viljoen ended that in the final over before lunch when he drew Mosehle into playing at a super delivery that kicked away to find the edge, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock moving smartly to claim a low catch, one of eight he took in the match.

Viljoen certainly found the right lengths on a typical Wanderers pitch that becomes more up-and-down as the match progresses, and he was superbly supported by his three fellow pace bowlers – Morris, Kagiso Rabada and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

“I’m very happy, I’ll take that start to the season any day. After all the plotting and planning, the training and all the hard work, it’s great when it goes better than expected,” Lions captain Stephen Cook said.

“To have those four fast bowlers is fantastic, it was maybe a risk not to play a specialist spinner and when a few turned past me on day one, I was wondering if it was the right decision. But this Wanderers pitch seems to stop turning and goes more up and down on days three and four, and those are four quality pacemen who all bring something different,” the Lions opener said.

The most immediate problem for the Titans to sort out is the fact that they were off to awful starts in both innings – 47 for four in the first and 28 for four in the second.

“Our start is key and unfortunately we gave the fast bowlers an early sniff in both innings. We have to have a better foundation up front, we need someone to make a hundred. When you’re up against a pace attack like that, you’ve got to get them into their third or fourth spells, you’ve got to build partnerships,” Behardien said.

Three batsmen caught behind down the leg-side and two stuck in their creases and trapped lbw was the sorry tale of the Unlimited Titans first-innings batting on the second day of their Sunfoil Series match against the bizhub Highveld Lions at the Wanderers on Friday.

With the formidable four-man Lions pace attack all hitting their straps, the Titans struggled to 158 for five at stumps, replying to the home side’s first innings of 401.

That the Lions managed to reach that total after being 271 for five overnight was largely due to Kagiso Rabada hitting an impressive 48 not out at number 10, while the rest of the lower-order all dug in to reach double figures.

The 19-year-old Rabada, batting for just the fourth time in the four-day competition (his previous innings have been 0, 3* & 0), showed tremendous composure and plenty of potential with the bat as he hit six fours and two sixes, generally using the straightest of bats.

The Titans had started the second morning well with the third over of the day bringing the wicket of Thami Tsolekile for 31, failing to pull off the hook shot against the pace of Marchant de Lange.

Devon Conway and Chris Morris (16) added 35 for the seventh wicket before the latter edged the left-arm seam of Rowan Richards into the slips, and leg-spinner Shaun von Berg claimed the wicket of Conway (24) in the next over.

The Lions were then seemingly on track to waste the strong start to the innings given to them by Temba Bavuma (84) as they slipped to 321 for eight. But Rabada and Hardus Viljoen (23) added 53 for the ninth wicket and Lonwabo Tsotsobe (10) helped add another 17 for the last wicket, but couldn’t hold out long enough for Rabada to achieve what would have been a richly-deserved maiden half-century.

The ease with which the Lions lower-order batted in the morning was in stark contrast to how the Titans fared as they came out to bat 40 minutes after lunch, but then again the home side’s pace attack is streets ahead of that of the visitors.

De Lange finished with three wickets for the Titans, but was expensive, conceding 114 runs in his 28 overs, while Richards took two for 64 in 20.1 overs and Ethy Mbhalati was wicketless for 64 runs in 24 overs.

Von Berg picked up three wickets and went for 87 runs in his 37 overs, the most admirable effort amongst the Titans bowlers.

The Titans top-order soon found themselves in deep trouble on 47 for four. Instead of being workers of the new ball, they tried too many aggressive strokes and paid the price.

Credit must go to the Lions attack because they put the Titans under pressure with some fine pace bowling, even if some of the wicket-taking deliveries themselves were no great shakes.

Dean Elgar clipped Viljoen for four through midwicket but then shouldered arms to the next delivery, which was straight and swung back, and the left-hander was on his way practically before the umpire put his finger up.

Four balls later, Heino Kuhn flapped loosely at a short delivery down the leg-side from Tsotsobe and was caught behind for a duck, but young Theunis de Bruyn seemed to be stepping up to the plate as he stroked six boundaries in cruising to 30.

Rabada, who gradually upped his pace to impressive levels as the innings progressed, had Qaasim Adams (8) splendidly caught down the leg-side by diving wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and when De Bruyn was trapped lbw by Morris, the Titans were up against it on 47 for four.

Some of Roelof van der Merwe’s strokeplay may not be suitable for posters of batsmen on schoolchildrens’ walls, but the nuggety all-rounder got stuck in as usual and scored a run-a-ball 23 to at least slightly extricate the Titans from the mire they found themselves in.

Disaster struck, however, when the first ball of Tsotsobe’s second spell, a rank loosener shortly after tea, was sliding down leg but took a deflection into wicketkeeper De Kock’s gloves. Umpire Adrian Holdstock was in no doubt that it had come off Van der Merwe’s bat, but there was a strong suggestion in the batsman’s reaction that the ball had only hit pad.

Coming in at 102 for five, it was critical that Mangaliso Mosehle hung around and he played himself in carefully before becoming more expansive in the last hour.

The wicketkeeper/batsman ended the day on 35 not out and helped Farhaan Behardien add 56 for the sixth wicket in 21.2 overs.

Behardien showed the sort of determination and sound judgement expected of a senior batsman, being technically sound and generally not being drawn into loose strokes as he finished the day on 45 not out in 165 minutes. He is a natural strokeplayer, though, and he did manage to collect eight fours from the 103 deliveries he faced.

Behardien and Mosehle will be central to the Titans’ hopes of staying in the game, the deficit a sizeable 243 at the halfway stage of the opening four-day match of the season.